Organise!
Irish class struggle anarchist group who take an explicitly anti-nationalist stance on the situation in Northern Ireland.
Islam and Science
BBC Four's 3-part series 'Islam & Science' starts tonight, and presenter, physicist Jim Al-Khalili, begins by discussing 'the language of science'.
In an article today, he also discusses the work of who he considers the 'first true scientist', al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham:
[i]without doubt, another great physicist, who is worthy of ranking up alongside Newton, is a scientist born in AD 965 in what is now Iraq who went by the name of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.
Darwin 2009
2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin Of Species. Last year saw the anniversary of Darwin and Wallace's ideas first being presented to the Linnaean Society in London. Books, events, magazines, radio shows have already been marking these anniversaries and even two movies are in the works. Here's a list of some of them, by no means exhaustive...
2008 already saw the 150th anniversary of Darwin and Wallace’s papers on natural selection being jointly presented to the Linnaen Society in London.
Creationism in the science classroom - 29% of science teachers say 'yes'
More than a quarter of science teachers polled by Ipsos MORI think creationism should be taught in the science classroom.
Ipsos MORI reports 'Teachers Dismiss Calls For Creationism To Be Taught In School Science Lessons'.
Protests in Belfast in support of women's right to choose
The Alliance for Choice in Northern Ireland is heading up a campaign for the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland. On Wednesday 22nd there will be a vote on an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in Westminster to extend the Act to NI - 41 years after its introduction in the rest of the UK.
Organise!, political activists, and pro-choice campaigners will be staging a series or protests in the next week in the run up to the Westminster vote on the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to NI.
Subway picketed in Belfast to support sacked worker
Organise!, WSM, trade unions and various political activists picketed a Subway restaurant in Belfast today in support of sacked Polish worker Natalia Szymanska.
The protest at the Subway restaurant on Great Victoria Street in central Belfast was, despite the poor weather, attended by around 60-70 people, during what should have been the fast-food outlet's busy lunch-hour, all showing their solidarity with Natalia.
Queens University placing excessive targets on probationary staff
The University and College Union at Queens University Belfast is highlighting the excessive demands being placed on workers currently in probationary periods.
The ongoing concern over increasing demands on probationary staff has been highlighted in a current dispute with management in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences. UCU suspect that excessive workloads being placed on staff not yet in confirmed-positions may be widespread throughout the university.
Direct Action Gets the Goods
The following article is from issue 10 of Working Class Resistance, August 2005, published by Organise! and written by Jason Brannigan.
Direct Action Gets The Goods
From the black block havin’ a go, to the clown army tickling cops and putting flowers in their hair, from marches to smashing McDonalds, gluing locks to throwing bricks and even it seems going to rock concerts– all of these activities have had the term direct action applied to them incorrectly.
Starbucks Global Day of Action - Belfast picket
Organise! and the WSM picketed Starbucks in Belfast city centre today from 12 to 1 pm. Despite the miserable weather around 12 people joined the picket and leafleted passers by and potential customers outside the coffee shop.
At the start of the picket 3 people had gone inside to leaflet customers and staff. There was a very positive response to the picket however one person was falsely accused of assaulting a Starbuck's member of staff after leafleting staff and customers inside.
Queens University pursuing compulsory redundancies
Queens University in Belfast is for the first time ever attempting to make staff compulsorily redundant. Following a meeting with UCU, these plans were dropped from the proposal to be tabled at a later date.
For the first time ever, Queens University is attempting to introduce compulsory redundancies for staff. Normally, voluntary means are used to resolve staffing issues, but Queens senior-management were attempting to rush-through the compulsory redundancy plan tomorrow at Standing Committee meeting.
Politics Without Parties - The future of trade unionism?
The following report is from the National Union of Journalists Annual Delegate Conference fringe meeting 'Politics without parties - the future of trade unionism'.
The meeting took place on Thursday 3rd of April 2008 in the Ulster Peoples College in Belfast and was addressed by Donnacha DeLong (NUJ National Executive Council New Media Rep) Jason Brannigan (Organise!) and Chekov Feeney (WSM).
